"Come to me, all of you who are frustrated and have had a bellyful, and I will give you zest." (Matthew 28:11, The Cotton Patch Version of Matthew and John by Clarence Jordan)

Tuesday, February 27, 2007

This is Bad. Really, Really Bad.

By the way, and for the record, before I tell this story, I want to remind everyone of a little known fact. Mayor Ellis is not a Democrat. That's right. Last year, as I listened to him on Fox 24, Mayor Ellis declared himself an independent. In light of today's headlines, it seems a good time to remind everyone. Now down to business.

I'd like to tell you that I was surprised when I opened the Telegraph today and learned that the City's audit is bad. I'm not surprised. I suspect that the with the history of financial problems that have plagued the City, few were surprised that the audit was bad. How bad? Try a fifteen million dollar error bad. Read all about it here. Below is a portion of the story:

After analyzing Macon's fiscal 2006 financial books, the city's new auditor pointed out 14 "material weaknesses" and found seven instances of the city not following state or federal regulations as it managed money.Among the larger corrections City Hall has to make: Macon overstated by more than $15 million the value of its general fund balance at the beginning of fiscal 2006, according to the audit. Rather than starting the year with a more than $10 million surplus in the city's largest fund, Macon in fact had a deficit of more than $5 million.Mayor Ellis said that he was not ready to discuss the audit. I bet not. I seem to recall that the Mayor didn't like the last accounting firm. Now the City is using a new firm. I imagine that he needs time to find someone new to blame.